I don't understand how a lot of you guys don't seem to get this - it's a negotiation !
Cowboys franchised him last year for $ 17, 000000. He said OK, I will sign and play on the Tag, but I wont do that again next year. And he played with his torn/partially torn Labrum - which the Cowboys knew about and gambled that would drive down his cost the following year. (Hence how everyone goes on about him fading towards the end of the year.) He played well, and it drove his price up..... That's their fault.
So, after a year of being able to negotiate, they slap the tag on him again for $20.500000. He counters, Told you I wouldn't play under the Tag a second time. Im not gonna have the surgery till this gets done ! that's called LEVERAGE.
His price is high $23,000000, Cowboys - before they franchised him offered $17, 000000 again. Why the hell would he accept that ? Now they have upped it to $20,500000. It's still a negotiation, they have to find a common ground.
I believe the timeline to agree to a deal is around June, to then give him the 3 months to heal after the surgery. And sooner would be even better.
So, 1 side came in high, 1 side came in low - what do you do ? Negotiate, and they are both doing it in the court of public opinion.
My hope is a deal gets struck for around $ 21,500000 per. Give him a reasonable signing bonus and ***** the back end. Hopefully before June.
This talk of trading him away is stupid, he's not quite Mack or Miller - who are both OLBer's but he is the best DE and just as good against the run as getting to the QB.
We Must Have Him Going Forward.
Or the whole offseason is for nothing without him, and all the FO talk of taking the next step is garbage, without him, we are a weaker team.
And with $116,000000 for next year, we can sign all the players we need to without doing any re-deals. Sign.That. Man !!!